Today the second graders finished working on a project that collaborates with their regular classroom learning. They’re learning about Westward Expansion, and so we’ve been studying landscapes (by watching clips from John Ford films) and creating covered wagons. Our main tool for the wagons, besides the parents’ help, was Elmer’s glue. I think there must be a better adhesive out there. Elmer’s glue takes so long to dry. Many of the students became frustrated with the glue, but these artists impressed me; they all worked through their frustration. Some techniques they used were:

Asking me for help.

Asking others for help.

Asking me for help again.

Working on their own until they finished it.

Crying.

Colored wheels, apple trees, and I think I see an ox.

Contrary to what you might think, I wasn’t frustrated by the crying! Many people deal with difficult situations that way. It was actually helpful, because I got to see which students really felt that they couldn’t complete the project and I zipped over to those students. Children at this age are still trying to develop fine motor skills and the work we did today really pushed them mentally. Second graders are used to paper, colored pencils and stickers. We used pipe clean, popsicle sticks and muslin! I’m proud of these artists.